Shipman Apologises - Guido Doesn’t

War in Europe has many drawbacks - price hikes for energy, share and currency volatility, and the more human costs, like death and injury, alongside an exodus of refugees. All this has been foisted upon us by the gangsterist régime of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as his armed forces try to roll over the defences of Ukraine. For one oft-quoted hack, this may actually be useful. Because it allows his bad news to be buried.

Tim Shipman ...

Tim Shipman, political editor of the Murdoch Sunday Times, has featured in Press Gazette, but not prominently otherwise, which will be a relief to those who like to promote him as the doyen of heavyweight political punditry. That relief would be because Shippers shipped a particularly ripe slice of bull on Twitter last May, thus precipitating a defamation action from former Labour MP Jenny Chapman - which reached the High Court this week.

As PG has reported, “A shadow minister has received an apology and a substantial sum from a prominent journalist over a tweet that falsely suggested she had a ‘secret adulterous relationship’ with Sir Keir Starmer … On Tuesday, the High Court heard [Tim] Shipman posted two tweets and two retweets about Baroness Chapman to his Twitter account, which currently has almost 180,000 followers”. There was more.

... and The Great Guido

“In his first tweet on 8 May last year, Shipman said that loyalty to Baroness Chapman appeared to be the ‘most important commodity as far as Labour high command is concerned this evening’ … His second tweet, which was attributed to an unnamed Labour source, claimed that Baroness Chapman had been banned from Sir Keir’s house ‘on the orders’ of the Labour leader’s wife”. Thus the inference of a possible relationship.

Shipman, to his credit, soon afterwards told his followers “Some people may have inferred that I was suggesting a relationship between the two [Baroness Chapman and Starmer] that is not purely professional. That was not its intention or context. Any such inference is untrue. I apologise for the distress caused. No disrespect was intended to anyone and particularly not to Ms Chapman to whom I have written and will pay compensation”.

He said sorry ...

And, with eyes on the conflict in Ukraine today, that will be that. Which may come as a relief to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, who took a keen interest in Jenny Chapman’s role within the Labour Party last year, and who appear not only to have repeated the alleged libel, but have not deleted it.

Here’s the offending paragraph: “Chapman’s love life and history of affairs is brought up by many. When she took up with fellow MP Nick Smith (her now husband), the subsequent messy divorce became an issue in her Darlington constituency. That she lived in Wales on weekends was an issue on the doorstep according to local Labour Party sources. Starmer’s wife must have concerns, she was reported by Tim Shipman to have banned Chapman from the house”. The link brings up Shipman’s deleted Tweet.

... but they didn't

Perhaps Jenny Chapman and her lawyers were unaware of the Fawkes intervention. That may not remain the case for long. The Great Guido does, though, love to tell the world that publishing his blog offshore makes it seriously difficult to mount legal actions against it.

So he won’t have a problem with his content being disseminated further. Or will he?

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